NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Mercyhurst College men's ice hockey team tallied for two goals in the first and second periods, then exploded for four goals in the final period to surge past Niagara University and take an 8-5 win on the road Friday night.

Nick Jones led seven different Lakers (12-12-3, 10-9-1 AHA) in scoring with two goals while Paul Chiasson added three assists to help Mercyhurst in the come-from-behind victory over the Purple Eagles (15-9-3, 12-7-1 AHA). Niagara was led by Ryan Rashid with two goals.

Jones opened the scoring at 4:48 in the first period on a power-play goal before Scott Pitt's even-strength goal at 7:54 closed out the scoring in the openzing stanza.

In the second, Niagara answered with back-to-back goals in less than a minute to tie the game. The first Purple Eagle goal came via Paul Zanette at even strength before David Ross' unassisted short-hand goal knotted the game at 4:09.

Mercyhurst answered just over three minutes later with a Derek Elliot goal before Grant Blakely found the back of the net on a power play at 9:35.

Still in the second, Niagara put three-straight between the pipes as Marc Zanette connected on the power play at 12:30 before Ryan Rashid also tallied a power-play goal quickly thereafter at 12:55. Rashid also scored the Purple Eagles final goal of the night at 15:29 to give Niagara a 5-4 advantage heading into the final period.

In the third, Jones scored the equalizer with just under six minutes to play (14:33). The Lakers then struck for three more in the final 3:02 of the game behind the game-winner from Phil Ginand and empty net insurance goals from Daniel O'Donoghue and Ryan Raven.

In goal, Ryan Zapolski went the distance to move to 10-9-2, turning away 43 shots in the process. His counterpart, Andrew Hare, turned away 20 shots.

The Lakers return home to the Mercyhurst Ice Center tomorrow night (Feb. 5) to face the Purple Eagles. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.